A slender, long-legged wild cat with a reddish-tan coat and long black ear tufts; its name comes from the Turkish for "black ear". It lives alone or in pairs, hunts mostly at night, and prefers dry country.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?Can be
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Typically nocturnal, secretive and hard to spot.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?No
At a glance
Found inAfrica, Asia
HabitatGrassland, Scrub, Desert, Forest
ColoursTan, Red
SizeMedium
LengthMales 78–108 cm, females 71–103 cm (head and body)
Weight7–19 kg
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives alone
Lives for12–17 years
In the wild
- Where it lives
- Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia, to arid parts of Pakistan and northwestern India.
- What it eats
- Mostly small mammals, plus birds, small monkeys and young antelopes.
Did you know
Leaps three metres straight up to swat birds out of the air.
Mughal emperors in India used caracals to hunt game birds.
Betting on caracals killing pigeons in an arena probably gave us the phrase "to put the cat among the pigeons".
Often confused with
- Serval
The serval has no ear tufts, a spotted coat, longer legs and a longer tail.
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